14 November 2012

November Novel: Chapter 5

Jerome
sat there with the two prosecutors, holding the silence in the hope
that they would fill it with the information he needed. Finally, the
senior man broke it.

"Father,
the investigation is ongoing. It is far from complete and we
are not in a position to make any of it public."

This
time the silence came from the other men and Jerome broke it. "I'm
not here to report things to the paper. I'm here to help in any
way I can. The only person I am supposed to report to is
Bishop Mannion."

The
silence carried on so Jerome filled it again. "I expect to
be here until everything is shaken out. I was speaking
to Yusif before Abby came in about possibly helping with
legal matters. I went to Boston College Law and I worked for
six years at the Richmond office of Spears, Allenby, Austerlitz,
Evans, and Metcaffe. As you might imagine from the
rather ostentatious name, I didn't see the inside of a courtroom for
those years. There's far more money and perceived prestige," he
rolled his eyes expressively, "in arguing over clauses in five
hundred page contracts between IBM and Motorola than there is in
going into a courtroom where you might actually affect people's
lives."

He
knew he was laying that on a little bit thick, but he always worried
that pulling out his legal bona fides would create a gulf. It
never hurt to salve the egos of the everyday lawyers he dealt with
more often in untangling the local affairs of churches. After
all, he was no longer working at a snobby multi-national law firm.

.
. . .

Yusif
saw the gulf between his boss and Father Tolton widening. The
cleric seemed to lack a basic understanding of how lawyers outside of
big cities operated. A biglaw firm
like Spears, Allenby, Austerlitz, Evans, and Metcaffe
was something entirely alien to Brad. Yusif understood somewhat
because he worked at Boreman & Franklin in Charleston for several
years before he left West Virginia to take his job here. However,
Brad was a dyed in the wool local guy for whom law school had been a
step in his planned political career. In fact, going to the
University of Kentucky had set him apart from the other local
attorneys. None of the twelve lawyers in the county had ever
thought that practicing law had anything to do with locking
themselves in an office on the thirty-second floor of a downtown
tower for ninety hours a week.

He
decided to jump in. "Brad, I was talking with Father
Tolton before Mrs. Mahan showed up. I thought maybe he could
come onboard as an unpaid deputy for this matter. That way he would
have a fiduciary responsibility to this office and . . ."

Brad
interrupted him. "Can't do it. Statute says that
larger jurisdictions can have unpaid deputies, but we can't have one
unless the comp board approves it."

"How's
that?" Yusif focused in on Brad. "The Virginia constitution
only allows the General Assembly to set the laws you have to enforce
and how much money you have."

"Yeah.
It's unconstitutional as H . . ." Brad stopped with a
glance toward Father Tolton, "It's unconstitutional as heck, but
we don't need to give defense attorneys in any prosecution coming out
of this anything to work with."

.
. . . .

Brad
was scrambling. What in the world was Yusif thinking? Thank
goodness this topic came up at the last commonwealth attorney seminar
in Williamsburg. Some commonwealth in the mountains on the
other side of West Virginia was running an office entirely by himself
and had a kid from the University of Chicago Law School who wanted to
work for him without salary for two years because some charity would
pay for the kid's room and board and pay off his loans. That
commonwealth attorney had been willing to deputize the kid to work
without pay, but the charity's lawyers had nixed it because the
statutes didn't allow it in counties with smaller populations.

The
idea of having a Catholic priest as a deputy Commonwealth Attorney
was a nightmare. The Father would have a higher loyalty to
another organization and if the Bishop told him to do something Brad
was certain that would trump any duty owed to this office. On
top of that, he already had to deal with the fact that he married a
Catholic woman. Having a priest in his office was a problem he
did not need in next year's election.

"I
can't hire you on Father, but I can brief you up on what we know so
far. However, you do have to give me your word that you will not
disclose this publicly."

He
waited. Father Tolton finally spoke. "As I said
before, I will not reveal anything that you tell me except to Bishop
Mannion."

After
considering that for a moment, Brad continued. "Okay. The
investigation isn't complete yet. The only persons who have
been interviewed are Captain Ross and Grant Lasley, one of the
defense attorneys. The FBI and State Police have sent a lot of
stuff to labs to be analyzed and none of that has come back. Things
are going to change."

When
the Father nodded, Brad dove into the description of what he knew.
"The Pahl brothers were on trial for rape and abduction. The
trial broke for the day and deputies Carr and Boyd were escorting the
brothers to the holding cell over in the Sheriff's office in the
building next to the courthouse. They let the brothers'
attorneys and their uncle, Father Ted Pahl, go with them. Stopping
in the alley between the buildings, they let the brothers smoke while
they spoke with their attorneys. Captain Ross came out and was
breaking all that up when someone, probably two people, opened fire
on them from the parking area behind the buildings."

"The
civilians were on the side of the alley next to the Sheriff's office
and the deputies were next to the courthouse. The initial shots went
into the civilians. We don't know how many bullets were fired,
but there were rounds both from a pistol and AR-15. That first
volley hit Kyle Pahl in the neck, Justin Pahl in the chest twice,
Grant Lasley in the elbow, and Father Pahl in the leg. The Pahl
brothers fell where they were and Lasley, who is a combat vet,
grabbed the Father by the back of his shirt and dragged him behind
the deputies. The other defense attorney, Keith Tolliver, turned and
ran toward the front of the alley. He got three bullets in the
lower back and went down. The deputies took cover behind a
propane tank that was next to the courthouse. Then one of the
attacker's bullets holed the tank and a white gas filled the back of
the alley. Captain Ross grabbed his keys and ran for the door
to the courthouse. He got to up on the little patio to the door and
four bullets hit him. His vest caught three and one hit him in
the arm and he was thrown off the porch into a bunch of plastic trash
containers. Then something, we don't know what yet, ignited the
gas."

"The
explosion caught the two deputies behind the tank and threw them back
ten feet. They suffered concussive traumas and third degree burns.
Lasley and Father Pahl were lying on the ground and the
explosion mostly missed them. Lasley got burns on his right
hand, the back of his neck, and had to have his left arm removed
above the elbow, but he came through it without any other serious
injuries. Father Pahl may have already been dead when the
explosion occurred. His leg wound hit an artery and he bled
out. The explosion reverberated from the solid granite
courthouse and hit the Sheriff's office hard. It was an old inn
which was converted for use by the county government about thirty
years ago and about a third of it was immediately flattened. Some
of it fell on the the Pahl brothers and they got multiple internal
injuries on top of the bullet wounds."

"Neither
Tolliver or Captain Ross were hurt by the explosion. Tolliver
probably won't be able to walk ever again, but he's awake. He just
won't talk to anyone in law enforcement about what happened. On
the other hand, Bo . . ." He paused when he saw a questioning
look in the Father's eyes. "Yes, the same Bo who came to
our wedding reception. Bo wouldn't have even gone to the
hospital in Tennessee if Sheriff Minton hadn't ordered him to. He's
already back on duty with a bandage on his right forearm. The
bullet didn't even hit any muscles or bone. It hit the arm at
an angle, furrowed under his skin and lodged there. He claims
the bruises on his back are worse than the bullet wound. Apparently,
the porch and the trash cans they found him under must have blocked
the explosion so he didn't get any concussive injuries or burns.
Sheriff's got him riding a desk for now until the arm's completely
healed."

"Right
now the only one dead is Father Pahl. However, The Pahl
brothers are never expected to regain consciousness and the doctors
are just waiting for the old man to sign off on removing them from
respirators. Deputy Boyd is in the same condition, but the
hospital can't find anyone related closely enough to make the call.
They're going to have some sort of meeting to decide what to do
tomorrow. Deputy Carr was taken off the respirator two days ago
and wasn't expected to make it through the night. His family is
sitting a deathwatch with him down at Beauregard Medical down in
Johnson City."

"Father,
I don't know how familiar you are with Virginia criminal law. Both
killing multiple people and killing law enforcement officers call for
the same thing. This is a capital case."

Ambush in Bartlette

Disclaimer

In case anyone out there needs this warning: This ain't legal advice. Everything in the blog is off the cuff and no one goes back and reads all the cases and statutes before blogging. The law may have changed; cases misread and misunderstood two years ago can still lead to a clinging misperception. Courts in your county, city, or State probably don't operate as described herein. Feel free to be inspired, but YOU MUST ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH OR HIRE A COMPETENT ATTORNEY TO DO SO because I haven't.